Wesley Wyndam-Pryce [Angel the Series] (paidthepryce) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-04-17 10:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2018 april, ~25 points, ~~daniel osbourne (mrmonkeypants), ~~~wesley wyndam-pryce (paidthepryce) |
Who: Oz and Wes
What: Hanging out, drinking
Where: Lou’s and beyond
When: Evening; back dated to shortly after Faith's declaration that she wasn't coming home after nightmares plot.
Warnings: Not really
Status: Closed; started in gdoc, continuing in comments.
Faith wasn’t coming home. Wes wasn’t happy about that. He was surprised she hadn’t bailed on him before now, but well. They had a good thing going. He wasn’t pistol whipped to the point of being an obedient puppet for her, he knew she wouldn’t have wanted that. He felt like he balanced the give and take pretty well. He felt like he gave as good as he got, and that was why they worked.
It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair, that the dome messing with them was what sent her packing. He hadn’t done anything to cause it, he didn’t deserve it. But it was happening anyway. She was gone, not coming home, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He could go after her, sure. He could probably find her pretty easily no matter where she decided to hole up. He knew her well enough he felt like he could track her down.
But he wouldn’t. Because while on one hand that might show he was serious and invested in the relationship, he knew Faith. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate his effort. She said she wasn’t coming home, and that was that. She’d either come back to him in her own time, or she wouldn’t. He would only push her further away if he tried to push his own agenda on her. So he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t go after her. He’d hang back and give her the space and time she obviously needed.
Even though he felt like this was the kind of time that they really needed each other. Faith, obviously, didn’t agree. He had to respect that. Even if it killed him. And it was. Slowly, and deep down. He’d put a lot of heart and soul into his relationship with Faith. He wasn’t foolish enough to think they’d be married and grow old together, but he hadn’t planned on it ending like this.
He sighed, and headed into Lou’s. Faith had quit her job, so she wasn’t likely to be there. And he just wasn’t feeling up to Verdant. Lou’s was more his style. He just really felt the need to get shit faced, maybe make a bad decision or two along the way. Not like he had to worry about Faith anymore. He scrubbed a hand over his face and headed to the bar to order the kind of drink that would hit him hard and fast.
***
Oz might no hang out with Wes every day and sometimes it was hard to tell that he was hanging out with a person at all since he had a tendency to sit in a room with you and let you talk but he considered Wes a friend so he’d been following the things going on with Faith and was a little worried about him.
Faith wasn’t like a lot of other people. It didn’t take a genius to see that but Oz had watched a lot of people and he’d been around in the beginning when Faith showed up and he and the other Scoobies knew there was something really broken in her and she never reacted the way you thought she would.
He’d let Hermione know he was going to go find where Wes was hanging out and told her not to wait up in case he needed to keep him company for a while. Oz was glad he’d told her that when he found him in Lou’s. This could be bad.
“Hey.” He slid onto the stool next to Wes when he got to the bar and ordered a beer for himself. He’d never been a huge hard alcohol drinker and the fact he could smell it on himself for about three days after he drank it now had pretty much killed off any lingering idea of indulging.
***
Wes looked up and over as Oz with a roll of his shoulders. Oz was hardly someone he needed to be on guard with. Oz was likely the most laid back, easy going person Wes had ever known. Wes shifted a little, took a sip of his drink, then resettled.
“I’m fine,” he said. He wasn’t stupid. He knew why Oz was there. He didn’t think for a moment that it was coincidence. No. Faith’s post had been public. Anyone who cared to read it knew she’d left him hanging. Hadn’t even given him a choice.
“Just keeping up tradition,” he said, raising his glass. Because there were plenty of nights he sat at the bar waiting for Faith to get off work. Only tonight, she wasn’t working. He wasn’t waiting for her.
***
“I didn’t ask.” Oz smiled slightly because of course Wes was right about why he was there but if the man didn’t want to talk about it he wasn’t going to make him. “It’s not a bad tradition. Definitely worse traditions.” Like some of the crazy things like hide the pickle ornament in the Christmas tree like his great aunt used to do every year. She was oblivious to the embarrassment and amusement of the rest of the family.
“Wouldn’t be a bad place to do research on casual days.”
***
“No, it’s a fairly neutral environment,” Wes said. He’d been known to bring a file and a notebook with him. He didn’t do much research though, when Faith was around. Which wasn’t going to be a problem, now. But the fact she wasn’t around was going to keep him from doing any work, just the same.
He sighed. He’d known this would eventually happen, that Faith would eventually push him away. He was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner. He attributed that to the dome, though. Because there wasn’t really anywhere for her to go. She couldn’t skip town, so where ever she was, she wasn’t far. And they were bound to cross paths, by virtue of the area under the dome being relatively small.
Another sigh, and he tipped his glass to finish it off. He set it down on the bar and slid it across to indicate he wanted a refill.
***
“You sure you want to hang here?” It seemed like it was maybe the wrong choice with the amount of sighing that was going on next to him. Oz got the need to be where you had the memories but it was seeming like Wes might not quite be to that stage of acceptance yet.
“We can go somewhere else if you want.”
***
Wes put a hand to the back of his neck. He knew he looked like shit. He didn’t really care. He didn’t have any reason to not look like shit, anymore. He let his hand drop with yet another sigh.
“I’m fine, Oz. I just want to drink and forget for a little while. Maybe make another epically bad decision.” Like sleeping with Eretria. He couldn’t be blamed for sleeping with K-Mart when the dome made them forget everything. But it was the nightmares that drove a wedge between him and Faith. And it was looking pretty damn permanent.
***
“Well I support the ability to do all those things.” Oz took a sip of his beer and looked around the bar. “Just thought if you want to make bad decisions you might not want to do it here. Figure her work friends might make it difficult.” McCree, Nico and the others might not like Wes deciding to make bad life choices where she used to work. Oz wasn’t sure of that of course but he thought going elsewhere to make bad life choices might pay off easier.
***
Wes’ eyes tracked Oz’s as he looked around the bar. He made a good point. A point Wes didn’t really want to mull over, but still. A good point. Not that it mattered. He was pretty sure Faith had probably severed all ties with McCree, Nico, and everyone else the way she’s cut him off and out. That was what she did to protect herself.
“Are you offering to take me somewhere else to get me shitfaced, Oz?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. He wasn’t sure it worked. He’d never been adept at that sort of thing. He was too British, or something. Too much his father’s son even though he tried not to be anything at all resembling Roger Wyndam-Pryce.
***
“Sure.” Oz chuckled softly for the attempt at joking. Wes saying shitfaced just sounded weird but Oz rolled with it. “I mean you could always see if you can out drink a werewolf if you want. That should get you nice and drunk.” For that he would sacrifice not liking hard alcohol and match Wes with drinks to get him seriously drunk then get him home to sleep it off.
****
Wes let out a breath. “All right. Where are we going, if not here?” There were a few other places in Madison where they could go. Wes didn’t really want to bother getting up, going out, and finding somewhere else to park. He was fine right where he was. Being at Lou’s made him feel a little bit of a connection to Faith. Was that really so terrible? Was it horrible that he wanted to cling to that?
***
“There’s a seedier bar not too far. Let’s go see how much of their booze you can drink.” There was feeling a connection and then there was wallowing. Wes was doing the wallowing thing. “C’mon, I’ll buy.” Sure he might not want to leave now but at least once he got him planted at the new place and filled up with alcohol he probably wouldn’t care anymore.
***
“Fine.” Wes rolled his eyes, but he moved to get up from where he sat. He hadn’t had too much to drink yet, but he swayed just a little as he stood up at his full height. He dropped a few dollars on the table, enough to cover his tab and a little extra. “Lead the way,” he muttered with a hand out toward the door.
***